Hole in a Heart
by jolandafoekens
Summary: A story on Miss Gullet her motives. For now it's a short-story, but when I get positive feedbacks and more ideas on the subject I might add more chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Geraldine fell down on the first treebranch she could find, dropping her bag and her broom next to her. When the first tears started to roll down her face, she burried her face in her hands. A silent sob came out. She should have known the truth would come out one day. She refused to believe it first, but she became aware of the risc a couple of years back, which caused her to have panic attacks at night quite often.

When she said she needed the job, everyone must have thought she needed it for the money, Geraldine thought. How wrong could someone be. It was because of the children. She wanted to work with children. Really. Bad. She wanted to take care of them. She wanted them to be safe. The girls must have thought she was a boring teacher quite often, but as long as they learned, as long as they were save, it didn't really matter to her. She couldn't keep her own little girl safe, but she had always felt the urge to take care of children. Some mothers in the same situation would run away as far as possible from anything that would remind them of their own child. Geraldine wasn't one of them. It gave her some comfort to work with children. It made her feel as if they were all her own. Slowly, the girls filled the hole that had appeared in her heart after losing her little girl.

Geraldine sobbed again. But now the hole is back again. Bigger than ever. The girls… She wouldn't ever see the girls again. What would she do now? She already missed the girls. Probably, no other school would hire her now. Everyone will know how she got her previous job, and wouldn't want her to teach at their school. But no one knows why she did it.

Geraldine her face was now wet from the tears. Her little girl… what would've happend if she hadn't lost her little girl? What would she look like now? Would she look like her father, or would she look like herself? Would she be a good witch? Would she… love her?

Were was her little girl's father? She had lost him too. Geraldine often felt guilty about it, but because of something natural called mother instinct, she took the loss of her little girl worse. Perhaps it was also because she knew the father was still alive somewhere. She never had seen her little girls body, but after what happend, one could only assume she was dead.

They took her for some sick experiment. They stole her. Some sick magical experiment. Geraldine never found out what kind of experiment, because the building went into flames during the experiment. Everyone died. Including her little girl.

Geraldine only wanted her little girl to be safe. And then they stole her little girl and her love of her life disappeared into the mist with her. And now she had lost everything which made her feel a little more comfortable as well. Again. She just wanted the girls to be safe.

"You don't really have to lose them.", a voice from behind her said. "You can come back to Cackle's… with me.". Geraldine turned around and felt scared the moment she saw Agatha. "W-With you?", was all that she could say. "Yes. With me. I'll be headmistress very soon. And you'll be my deputy, if you want to.".

Geraldine thought about the offer for a moment. Actually, she didn't want to. What if Agatha would hurt the children? She would hurt the children, definitely. But on the other hand… she would still be with the girls. And she could protect them. Shecould keep them safe from Agatha.

Little did she know how soon one could become just as evil as Agatha herself when you hang around with her too much. Little did she know 'wanting the girls to be safe' would become 'revenge' and 'hatred'. If only she knew, she would have refused and run away.

But she didn't. The urge to see the girls again was too big.

"Okay", Geraldine said, "I think I can help you.".


	2. Chapter 2: Flashback one

Geraldine watched the stars. She always chose this place to watch the stars. Ordinary People always use so much light in the evenings. Their streets have bright lights, they have neon banners on their buildings with lights in all colours you could imagine (something Geraldine still didn't understand the use for), their transport called 'cars' have lights, despite the fact their streets already have lights as well, and they even have lamps close to their front door. This place is miles and miles away from all these lights. She could now see all the stars, even the smaller, less brighter ones you couldn't see close to the Ordinary People's buildings. She laid down on her back and put her hands under her head. She sighted. Damn, what a week. There was this new guy in her appartment building. He looked quite quite, espacially when he smiled. His eyes started to shine that cute. He always smiled when he saw her. Geraldine still didn't know why. A guy never acted like that close to her. All-girlsschools are mostly great, but it's a bit of a downside that you barely get any contact with any guys. She had just turned 19, so she had graduated for a few years. Still, guys were like aliens to her. They were… so different.

After a while, Geraldine heard a voice behind her. "Is the grass more comfortable than your own bed?". She moved her head a little to see were the voice was coming from. It was the new guy. She grinned. "I don't have much of a view from my own bed.", she simply answered. The guy grinned too. "Can I join?" "Of course.". For a while they remained quiet. "Why do you like the stars so much?", the guy asked. "Various reasons. They have something magical, they're always there and most important: they remind me there's always light, even in the dark.", she answered slowly. "How about you?". He remaind quiet again for a moment. "Wow. I just think they're beautifull.". She smiled. "Funny.", she answered. "that's actually the first thing one of the girls I look after every once in a while told me. 'I don't care about the stars being interesting', the girl said, 'I only like them because they are beautifull.'", Geraldine said, trying to make her voice sound like the girl as much as possible. The guy laughed, which made her blush. That was the first time she actually managed to make someone laugh. "So that's what you do for a living? Babysit?". Geraldine smiled. "Yeah. At least untill I find somewhere I can teach.", she answered. He looked at her with a suprised face. "What? I love children.". He went quiet for a while too. "Yeah. Love them I was a teenager, I always imagined having a house full of them when I would be old enough."

He returned there every night, around the same time Geraldine arrived there. She learned that his name was Michäel and that he was only a few years older than her. He was both a researcher and a healer at a magical hospital, so he actually was more intrested in herbs than stars –but that didn't matter. After a while, Geraldine started to teach him about the stars and planets, and what their locations to each other meant. Michäel, in return, started to teach her more about herbs. Not that she barely knew anything about herbs, she learned a lot about them at witch training. Michäel just discovered new uses of the common herbs and found new herbs to use for potions and healing. After a while, Geraldine went to that same spot just to spent the evening with him. He made her laugh, he made her feel safe and secure, and most importantly, he made her feel like she wasn't that weird ginger nerd. Instead, he made her feel like she was an actual, normal, functioning, human being.

"Fancy going to town for a lunch and perhaps a drink tomorrow? I have a day off tomorrow.", Michäel once asked her. Geraldine felt butterflies in her stomach. She smiled. "I'd love to.", she answered. "I'll have to see the girls I look after for in the morning, we can meet afterwards at the restaurant?".  
Next morning, Geraldine had rushed home from work. Now she stood in front of her mirror with a worried face. She'd never been asked out on a date before. She wasn't even sure if she could call this a date. He didn't call this a date, but to her, it felt like one anyway. She decided to put her hair in a long fishtailbraid. Before, she had always had her hair in a simple high bun, but for the occasion, she decided to do something different. She smiled tot he mirror when she was finished. She decided to keep all the other things simple. He had asked her out while she always wore ordinary, simple clothing, and he'd never seen her with any make-up on. And still he asked her out. 'He must see something he likes in me, right?', she thought, 'Let's hope I won't change that today.'.

Michäel had already arrived at the restaurant they decided to meet. He smiled his wonderfull smile when Geraldine arrived –and she would swear she saw him blush when she walked closer. "You look beautifull with your hair down in that plaid.", he said as a greeting. "Thanks", she mumbled when Michäel helpt her sit down. For the first few minutes, the conversation went a little awkward. This changed when Michäel told a story about how he once entered a barn early in the evening, and ran out crying because he was chased by dozens of bats. "My father told me they were after me because they were hungry and hadn't eaten yet… little did I know bats only eat insects.", he said grinning, while Geraldine chocked on her tea, trying not to laugh very hard.

This story had broke the ice fort he two. They sat on the terracce of the restaurant for the rest of the afternoon, even after the lunch. They talked, and laughed, and talked again, and laughed even more about stories from their youth. When it was finally time to go home, Geraldine and Michäel walked home together. Halfway, out of nothing, Michäel took Geraldine both her hands and pulled her closer to himself. She was just thinking about how she could see his green eyes better than she had ever seen before, and then.. He kissed her. After a while, he stopped kissing her, looked her in her eyes, and asked: "First kiss?". Geraldine could only nod. "Mind if I kiss you again? I wanted to do this for a while already.". "N-no… I wouldn't mind.", she answered weakly. She blushed. "I'm glad you kissed me, I wouldn't have the courage to… hm!". And he kissed her again. Even more butterflies flew around in Geraldine her stomach. For the first time in her life, she had truely felt loved.


End file.
